Read time: 3 minutes

'Slow LTE licensing could rob Africa of $100bn’

By , IT in government editor
Africa , 14 Nov 2013

'Slow LTE licensing could rob Africa of $100bn’

Sub-Saharan Africa could lose more than $100 billion in LTE investments in the next five years if governments continue with the slow pace of licensing spectrum.

This is according Andile Ngcaba, founder and chairman of Convergence Partners, who said delays in licensing enough spectrum for the next generation mobile broadband LTE could impact on those who build infrastructure, power providers and many other players in the industry.

Ngcaba was speaking at the AfricaCom conference, which is taking place in Cape Town, South Africa and he emphasised the continent is lagging behind in the licensing of LTE and LTE advanced.

"The sub-Saharan Africa region is approaching one billion subscriptions. We are living in a world where data has overtaken voice, why are there still issues in the licensing of LTE," Ngcaba questioned.

"What are some of the reasons of delaying the licensing of LTE as the African continent when the world is continuing to grow at a fast pace," he continues.

Ngcaba added that there needs to be smarter models in the licensing of LTE.

“The traditional way of licensing LTE in sub-Saharan Africa has been a model of a beauty contest on one side and lottery on the other side,” he explained.

“People talk about how to license, the most important thing is that the issue of ‘first come first serve’ will not serve the future of LTE deployment in Africa.”

“Instead there needs to be smarter models in the way in which LTE is licensed,” Ngcaba said.

There are a number of players and stakeholders such as internet companies, mobile operators, investors that must figure out how to push the adoption of LTE, he said.

He has also predicted that by 2017 and 2018 voice communications will be free of charge and will come as a bundle free of charge that will be used in a device.

Ngcaba concluded by saying that when it comes to the licensing LTE bureaucracies must be removed.
 
Countries in Africa that have implemented LTE include the likes of South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.


Daily newsletter